The Election Commission had upped the expense limit for Lok Sabha elections from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh per candidate in big states, but a report states that 537 MPs declared expenses of less than 50 per cent of the limit. Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com reports
In contrast to claims of low election expenditure set by the Election Commission, the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms has said that 176 MPs declared expenses of less than 50 per cent of the limit.
The NEW and ADR analysed the election expense statements of 537 MPs submitted after the Lok Sabha elections.
However, Gourav Gogoi of the Congress from Kaliabor constituency, Assam declared an election expenditure of Rs 82.40 lakh (118 per cent of the expense limit).
Based on the election expense declarations, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections was about Rs 40.33 lakh, 58 per cent of the expense limit.
The party-wise average election expense shows that the average spending for 277 MPs from BJP was Rs 41.81 lakhs (60 pc of the average expense limit), for 44 MPs from INC was Rs 41.63 lakh (60 pc of the average expense limit), for 37 MPs from AIADMK is Rs 35.66 lakh (51 pc of the average expense limit) and for 34 MPs from All India Trinamool Congress was Rs 46.51 lakh (67 pc of the average expense limit).
The maximum election expense of about Rs 82.40 lakh (118 pc of the expense limit) was declared by Gourav Gogoi of INC from Kaliabor constituency, Assam followed by Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava of Bharatiya Janata Party from Bharuch constituency, Gujarat with an expense of Rs 67.31 lakh (or 96 pc of the expense limit) and Saugata Roy of AITC from Dum Dum constituency, West Bengal with an expense of Rs 65.53 lakh (or 94 pc of the expense limit)
Shyama Charan Gupta of the BJP from Allahabad constituency, Uttar Pradesh, declared election expenditure of Rs 39,369, followed by Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati of the Telugu Desam Party from Vizianagaram Constituency, Andhra Pradesh, with election expenses of Rs 4.10 lakh and Vanaroja R of AIADMK from Tiruvannamalai Constituency, Tamil Nadu with election expenses of Rs 5.48 lakh.
Out of the 537 MPs analysed, 108 (20 pc) MPs have declared that they have not spent any amount on public meetings, processions with star campaigners.
24 (4 pc) MPs declared they have not spent any amount on public meetings, processions etc other than the ones with star campaigners.
108 (20 pc) MPs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaigning through electronic/print media.
100 (19 pc) MPs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaign workers.
5 MPs have declared that they have not spent any amount on vehicles for electioneering.
72 (13 pc) MPs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaign materials.
194 (36 pc) MPs declared that they have not received any funds from political parties.
Out of the 537 MPs analysed, 165 (31pc) MPs have declared they have not received any funds from any person/company/firm/associations/body of persons as loan, gift or donation etc.
51 (9 pc) MPs have declared they have not used any of their own funds for their election campaign.
Based on the election expense declarations of 35 ministers analysed from Lok Sabha, elections, 11 ministers (31 pc) have declared election expenses of less than 50 pc of the expense limit in their constituency.
Based on the election expense declarations of 35 ministers, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections was only Rs 38.96 lakh, which is 56 pc of the expense limit.
The maximum expense of about Rs 67.31 lakh (96 pc of the expense limit) has been declared by Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava of BJP from Bharuch constituency, Gujarat, followed by Uma Bharti of BJP from Jhansi constituency, Uttar Pradesh, with an expense of Rs 59.64 lakh (or 85 pc of the expense limit) and DV Sadananda Gowda of BJP from Bangalore North constituency, Karnataka with an expense of Rs 59.35 lakh (or 85 pc of the expense limit)
Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati of TDP from Vizianagaram constituency, Andhra Pradesh has declared an election expenditure of Rs 4.10 lakh (6 pc of the expense limit).
Pusapati followed by Kiren Rijiju of BJP from Arunachal West constituency, Arunachal Pradesh who has declared election expenditure of Rs 13.70 lakh (25 pc of the expense limit), Raj Nath Singh of BJP from Lucknow constituency, Uttar Pradesh with election expenses of Rs 17.76 lakh (25 pc of the expense limit) and Dr Jitendra Singh of BJP from Udhampur constituency, Jammu and Kashmir with election expenses of Rs 21.97 lakh (31 pc of the expense limit).
